Fisherman at Smithville Lake runs to safety as tornado hits docks
SMITHVILLE, Mo. — Whipping winds and a tornado tore through rural areas southwest of the Kansas City metro Tuesday morning.
Much of those strong winds targeted the areas around Smithville Lake. Where trees were toppled and a trailer was overturned.
Fortunately, there have been no reports of injuries, according to a spokesperson for the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities also say that the nearby Kansas City Trapshooters Association building is likely a complete loss, with a possible tornado ripping its roof almost completely off.
Possible tornado causes damage in Smithville and Parkville areas
With trees across driveways, Ariel Lallana, helping a neighbor in Plattsburg using heavy machinery, says the storm came through suddenly mid-morning.
“We heard a large, like a loud crack noise. And then once the wind passed she came to take a look at the neighborhood and stuff and found that two of these trees got destroyed,” Lallana said.
“It seemed more like a microburst than an actual tornado coming through. But it was very cloudy and stuff so we didn’t get to see that much of it,” Lallana said.
Fisherman Lyle Sears said people yelled for him at the dock to take cover at the severe weather shelter (the public restroom) near the Smithville Lake campground.
“I just took off running with them. And we got to the ramp down there and I looked out and it was like a wall of water coming at us,” Sears said.
“I was trying to get to the shelter and get people in it. So I didn’t really see a whole lot. Just heavy rain too, so,” John Davis, interim park director of Clay County, said.
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“We didn’t make it to the storage place in time. We were soaked. But we were safe,” Sears said.
“Nobody’s heart gave out or anything. That was a good thing,” he said. “The guys are going ‘Oh, fishing’s great.’ So I come up here and they brung me into a tornado I guess.”
“We have some trees down, some power lines down. A camper here at the Smithville Lake campground was overturned,” Sarah Boyd, spokesperson for the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, said.
Initial reports from park staff indicate that people were inside the overturned trailer when it blew over. Authorities say that everyone is OK.
Sears, the fisherman, said he’d had enough of the water for the day.
“I’m going mushroom hunting now,” he said.
Damage surveys from the National Weather Service have confirmed that an EF-1 tornado did touchdown near Smithville Lake around 10:10 a.m. Tuesday morning with peak winds of 95 miles per hour.
